My Pleco Keeps Trying To Clean My Datnoid...

[HaliHostility]

Ayyyyeeeee...
My pleco has always tried to suck on my datnoid, "Donnie" and he just swims away, and they'll chase around for a little, then usually Suckafish [thats my pleco ] stops and goes back to the glass...
But lately he's been really persistent and Donnie gets annoyed.... Why does he do this at all? He doesn't do it to any other fish, just Donnie.. Friggen weird.

 

[FishBlast]

Ayyyyeeeee...
My pleco has always tried to suck on my datnoid, "Donnie" and he just swims away, and they'll chase around for a little, then usually Suckafish [thats my pleco ] stops and goes back to the glass...
But lately he's been really persistent and Donnie gets annoyed.... Why does he do this at all? He doesn't do it to any other fish, just Donnie.. Friggen weird.

Maybe that one has a nice tasting slime coat. Lol.

 

[Zikofski]

+1 on that lol maybe it thinks its just a piece of moving decor?

 

[nanoMama86]

That plec will KILL your dat . It is a sign he is starving. You are either gonna have to remove him, or start upping the amount of algae wafers you are throwing in the the tank. It is a really dire situation becuase when plecs start exhibiting this behaviour, in my experience, they don't stop, and wind up having to be euthanized.





I had a 24" plec that started in on my koi this past summer and he was immediately killed. No second chances with thousand dollar fish. I cried like a newborn baby whilst I wielded the hammer, but wield it I did.


I want to add, this is after my GENERATIONS of my family keeping koi. I have been brought a koi who had it's body wall opened by a plec, and I had to use the hammer that time,too. Do not shrug it off. If you can't get him to stop with increased targeted feeds, rehome him, or euthanize him.

 

[FishBlast]

That plec will KILL your dat . It is a sign he is starving. You are either gonna have to remove him, or start upping the amount of algae wafers you are throwing in the the tank. It is a really dire situation becuase when plecs start exhibiting this behaviour, in my experience, they don't stop, and wind up having to be euthanized.





I had a 24" plec that started in on my koi this past summer and he was immediately killed. No second chances with thousand dollar fish. I cried like a newborn baby whilst I wielded the hammer, but wield it I did.


I want to add, this is after my GENERATIONS of my family keeping koi. I have been brought a koi who had it's body wall opened by a plec, and I had to use the hammer that time,too. Do not shrug it off. If you can't get him to stop with increased targeted feeds, rehome him, or euthanize him.

Uh, rather just give pleco away to someone instead of killing a perfectly healthy fish. Or get a tank only for the pleco.

 

[snazy]

Sorry, but I missed what type of fish is Donnie?
As for the koi, I don't think that it is ever a good idea to keep a pleco with koi fish in general. It's almost unavoidable what happened. The pleco would have been fine with other suitable types of fish sadly.

 

[mark2109111]

I had a Chinese algae eater do that to my discus. Needless to say he was gone in an instant lol

 

[AshleyT]

Plecos can tell if I fish is poorly and try to eat it

 

[ZoddyZod]

you must have a serious tank to have a Datnoid....got any pics?

And since when did plecs "tell if a fish is poorly and try to eat it"? Which species does that?

 

[FishBlast]

you must have a serious tank to have a Datnoid....got any pics?

And since when did plecs "tell if a fish is poorly and try to eat it"? Which species does that?

Pretty much all fish see if another is weakened.
One of my swordtail females noticed that her rival (who used to pick on her at the beginning when they were introduced to the tank) was weakened and she started attacking her. I had to separate them but the sick one didn't survive.

 

[ZoddyZod]

which species of plec? If a dead fish is in the tank then yes a plec might have a nibble, but I'm unaware of which plec species actively seeks out weak or dying fish.

 

[HaliHostility]

that was my first thought...

Maybe that one has a nice tasting slime coat. Lol.

 

[HaliHostility]

That plec will KILL your dat . It is a sign he is starving. You are either gonna have to remove him, or start upping the amount of algae wafers you are throwing in the the tank. It is a really dire situation becuase when plecs start exhibiting this behaviour, in my experience, they don't stop, and wind up having to be euthanized.





I had a 24" plec that started in on my koi this past summer and he was immediately killed. No second chances with thousand dollar fish. I cried like a newborn baby whilst I wielded the hammer, but wield it I did.


I want to add, this is after my GENERATIONS of my family keeping koi. I have been brought a koi who had it's body wall opened by a plec, and I had to use the hammer that time,too. Do not shrug it off. If you can't get him to stop with increased targeted feeds, rehome him, or euthanize him.

what. A pleco is pretty much incapable of killing anything bigger than it. Small ones at least..My datnoid is bigger than him.
And thats HORRIBLE! why not just go put his #17##### in a swamp or something?
And he is NOT starving....He eats all day, he's always plump. Its my little tiny zebra pleco thats always having a hard time find food...He's skinny:[

 

[HaliHostility]

you must have a serious tank to have a Datnoid....got any pics?

And since when did plecs "tell if a fish is poorly and try to eat it"? Which species does that?

Yes i do:] I have TONS.
And its just a 55... I've had him for almost a year and he hasn't grown more than maybe an inch..
I had him in a 150, but hes way smaller than the redtail in there so i put him in my 55. And hes FAT i feed him pretty generously so idk why he hasn't grown, I think maybe the fish store owner bought him as an adult that was just stunted or something....I thought he would grow like crazy in the 150, but nope...

 

[mattlee]

suckermouth catfish are known for eating the slime coat from other fish if given the chance. this is the reason that mixing these cats with discus, rays etc is not a good idea. usually once the cat has the taste for the slime coat it will continue to try and eat it. the best thing to do is to remove the plec before is stresses out the dat or causes serious injury. hitting it with a hammer isnt the best idea as suggested above, why not just take it to an lfs?

what size is the tank? the reason i ask is because if the fish are on top of each other trhen there is much more chance of this happening as the fish are in close quarters.

also what are the tank mates as keeping a zebra plec with a dat isnt a good idea to be honest...........